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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26875882">(when i go out i wanna go out) dancing</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/HannahPelham/pseuds/HannahPelham'>HannahPelham</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Gilmore Girls</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>AYITL AU, F/M, Rory isn't pregnant, Some of AYITL happened, also Rory Gilmore is the fucking worst, justice for jess mariano, sorry - Freeform, that poor boy deserved better</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-10-07</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-10-07</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 19:55:09</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,574</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/26875882</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/HannahPelham/pseuds/HannahPelham</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>AYITL AU - Rory isn't pregnant. Jess asks her to dance at Luke and Lorelai's wedding, and a lot happens as a result. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>title from Dancing by Kylie Minogue</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Rory Gilmore/Jess Mariano</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>46</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>(when i go out i wanna go out) dancing</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Ok gang, so basically Rory isn't pregnant but most of the rest of AYITL happened. Also Rory Gilmore is the fucking worst and Jess Mariano deserved better. </p>
<p>Enjoy!</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    
<p></p><div>
  <p></p>
  <div class="resolved">
    <p> </p>
  </div>
</div><p>
  <span>Rory Gilmore was happy, for the first time in a while. Her mother and Luke were finally married, Mr and Mrs Danes, and the decades long will-they-won’t-they was finally complete. Rory tried not to think about her own love life. She’d broken up with Paul, having finally remembered that was something she should probably do. So here she was, 32 and single, watching her mom dance with Luke. She could see her grandmother trying to chat to Taylor, but Taylor seemed to be the only person to ever get the better of Emily Gilmore. Kirk had done an excellent job with the Square and the Gazebo, so Rory tried to focus on that rather than thoughts of what might have been, with Dean or Logan or Jess. Despite having been engaged to him, and then his mistress, Rory had the hardest time imagining herself actually married to Logan. Rory Huntzberger didn’t fall off the tip of her tongue. Rory Forester was more appealing to her, sonically, but Dean was married with children, and Rory had already been the cause of Dean’s infidelity once. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>The one Rory got stuck on was Rory Mariano. For one, she could almost imagine Jess taking her name when they got married. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>IF.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Rory shouted ‘if’ in her head. She was not, as far as she knew, engaged to Jess Mariano, not did she have any intention to. At least, she didn’t have any intention to until he walked up to her and asked her to dance. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“You? Dance?” Rory replied, trying to get over the wave of shock that had come across her at the concept of Jess Mariano asking her to dance. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Yes, me dance. It’s Luke and Lorelai’s wedding, your mom will kill me if she doesn’t see me dance” He said, taking Rory’s hand, “plus you looked sad sitting there all on your own”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Rory tried to find the words to argue with Jess, but found she couldn’t. She stood up with him and found a quiet corner or the dancefloor. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>As Jess took her into his arms, she tried to remember if Jess had always been this muscly. The slow, romantic song continued, and Rory tried not to think about Jess, the feeling of being in Jess’ arms, how right being in Jess’ arms felt. She was long over Jess, she told herself, but still. It felt right and nice being there, no matter how much that scared her. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>She looked over and saw her mother smiling at her, silently telling her that she was doing a good job, like it was a hard task to be dancing with Jess. Her mother and Luke looked happier than they ever had, and Jess noticed her staring at them too. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Rande Gerber hot” He said, referencing the previous day’s conversation. Rory laughed and looked at him, looked at him properly for the first time since they’d started dancing. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Jess studied Rory’s face as she stared at him. He wondered when they’d both made it to their early thirties, and how Rory had got there looking relatively unchanged. She was still as beautiful as she’d been when they were teenagers, if not more so. Over the years, Jess had tried to convince himself time and time again that he was over Rory Gilmore, that he definitely wasn’t hung up on Rory Gilmore, and that one day he’d find the right person to find the Rory Gilmore shaped hole in his life. It was once he’d written this all out on paper and seen the amount of times Rory’s name appeared that Jess realised he was actually very much still in love with Rory, and he’d be in love with her forever. That’s why he settled for a few dates here and there, nothing serious. It couldn’t be serious if it wasn’t with Rory, Jess decided. He wasn’t capable of having feelings for anyone, because they weren’t Rory. He knew it was pathetic and that he should suck it up and get over his ex-girlfriend from his teenage years, but seeing her progress through the years, through Yale and through writing for the New Yorker and through the whole Naomi Shropshire thing into writing a book about herself and her mom and their story, had only made Jess fall more and more in love with Rory Gilmore. He still tried to lie to himself, though, as one would in that situation. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>The slow, romantic song ended, and on came something definitely from the 1980s, no doubt Lorelai’s doing. He looked down at Rory as they parted, and smiled at her. It had been nice for a moment to imagine himself and Rory together, but he knew it wouldn’t happen. Rory was long over him anyway. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>They said their byes and see you laters, and parted ways, but Rory couldn’t stop thinking about Jess. She let her thoughts wander for a moment, and found herself thinking of and dreaming of Jess, of what it would be like to kiss him, to be held by him, to be loved by him. It was in that moment that Rory realised she had to find out. She had to. She had to know. As she paced through the Square in the direction of the diner, where she assumed Jess was, she had the epiphany. She was still in love with Jess Mariano. She’d been with Logan and she’d loved him, sure, but she was in love with Jess still. The lack of closure had led it to fester, and that was ok by her, if she got some form of closure now, whether it be good or bad. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>She opened the door of the diner and saw Jess sat at the counter, his head in his hands. He looked up when he heard the door closed. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Rory,” He said, standing up. He smoothed down his shirt, his hands fidgeting nervously. He assumed he was right to be nervous, being that he was about to tell his ex-girlfriend he still loved her. Rory could see he was nervous, but she knew he’d be ok. She walked over to him without saying a word, and kissed him with all that she was worth. It took Jess a moment to respond, but once he did there was no hesitation. His arms wrapped around Rory and pulled her close to him. They stumbled about through the diner, barely parting to make their way up the stairs to the apartment Luke had kept, not that he’d need it now he was married. Jess assumed they’d be ok to use it for whatever it was they were going to do. He had no idea whether what he hoped would happen, would happen, but he decided that hoping wouldn’t hurt. He didn’t really have time to think all this, not when he had Rory Gilmore wrapping her legs around his waist as he made his way to the bed. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>When Jess woke up the next morning, he was pleased to find himself still in the apartment above the diner, and still with Rory. She was curled up into his side, wearing nothing except her underwear. He wasn’t even wearing that. He pulled on some underpants from the drawer in the dresser containing some stuff for him so he’d always have at least clean underwear in Stars Hollow, and very nearly walked into the diner before he realised that it was mid morning and the diner was most likely open. He couldn’t just go in there and get two cups of coffee to take back upstairs either, not in a town like Stars Hollow. He pulled on some clothes from the dresser, and went downstairs for the biggest cup of coffee he could find, to share with Rory. When he got back, Rory was half awake, but he knew she would wake up instantly if she smelt coffee. He’d just got his shirt off and got back in bed when she woke. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Coffee” She said, her voice still raspy from sleep. Jess silently handed her the cup. She took it with a smile and instantly downed half of it. Once she was sufficiently caffeinated, she handed the cup back to Jess, who took a sip. He placed it down on the cabinet beside the bed and turned to her. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“We should probably talk about last night” He said, somewhat absently, like something huge and life-changing for the both of them hadn’t happened the night before. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Yeah, we probably should” Rory replied, propping herself up against the pillows. Jess faltered for a moment, before he found his voice. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Whatever this is, whatever this becomes, I am all in. If you want me, I’m yours” He said, smiling that crooked smile that made Rory’s knees weak. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“You are?” Rory asked, smiling widely, giving Jess a little bit of hope. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“I’m done running, or being run away from. If you want it, Gilmore, you got it” Jess replied, leaning over to kiss her gently. She kissed him back for a moment, before pulling away.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“I’m all yours Mariano” She replied, before she kissed him again. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Bet you were glad you weren’t at home last night” Jess joked, when they eventually pulled apart. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“You have no idea” Rory replied, and the pair descended into a fit of giggles. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>When, a few years later, Jess and Rory married in Stars Hollow, they spent their wedding night in the apartment above the diner, just like old times. </span>
</p>

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